Levant

Sera– don’t act innocent here. I’ve found a venue. Fact of the matter is that perhaps you SHOULD have notified me when you had my money INSTEAD of making me hound you to «figure it out». You had MULTIPLE opportunities to notify me which you chose to ignore, and in the long run cost ME money to rectify.
Me– «I ordered custom invitations which were addressed for here»
You– «I don’t know what to say».
AND INSULT TO INJURY– TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR «DEALS». YOU’VE COST ME ENOUGH MONEY WITHOUT ANYTHING TO SHOW FOR IT.

I wanted to like this place. It’s a nice place with comfortable seats and we got a good table at 9pm on Friday evening with no wait…
The problem was the food. It varied from ok (the eggplant and red pepper dip, the greek salad) via poor (the runny yogurt with big lumps of cucumber salad) thru to revolting (the fermented yogurt and lamb speciality of the house). which I can still taste.
The waiter was friendly but he was absent for quite long stretches of the time so service was a little slow, and despite seeing we didn’t eat the lamb dish he left it on the bill.
Since I’ve got home, I’ve eaten mints, I’ve tried gargling with neat rum, and cleaned my teeth, so far can’t get that fermented yogurt taste away! It’s definitely unique! The waiter said some people love it and some hate it, maybe you’ll feel differently and add to those 5 star reviews, but I won’t be back.

Wow! Everything about this place is incredible. From the décor, to the food, and the service, it’s all spot on.
My sister and an old friend met there last night and we were all thoroughly impressed. We started off with the hummus and a greek salad. Both starters were delicious. Then our lovely waitress explained that there were some specials that were authentic Jordanian food. My friend and I both got the meat special while my sister got the levant shrimp. The special was incredible. It was a stew/​or curry with Jordanian meatballs and rice. It was so flavorful and the meat was tender. My sister also loved her levant shrimp. There were so many shrimp and the flavor was great!
We were there kind of late but our waitress was incredibly nice. She didn’t shove the bill on us or ask us to finish up despite being the only people left there. She even brought us some complimentary authentic Jordanian deserts. They were to die for. I can’t say enough about how much of a lovely dinner and experience it was.
I can’t wait to go back soon!

I came back and it was even better this time around. The couple who own and run Levant are gracious hosts.
The mousa’a that they recommended had been freshly made and did not disappoint. The other mezze we had were top-​notch too. The halloumi, the khyar bil laban, and the Jordanian falafel were all nice. The foul was pretty good, but I might swap it back out for the hummus next time.
Friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Go for it even if you have no other reason to be in Carroll Gardens.

This place is AMAZING! We traveled from the UWS in Manhattan just to try it (thanks to Scoutmob).
The food is fantastic and the pita bread is the best I have ever had — made right then and there and comes out nice and hot.
Cute atmosphere, but don’t expect fast service. Come here when you want to have a nice long meal.

The waitress was so cute and nice. She was busy but made sure we got what we needed. The wait for food was a little bit long — I think everyone must have ordered all at once or there was some mistake– but my boyfriend and I were enjoying our date (and wine) so that didn’t really bother us. We had some awesome pita and seasame/​thyme oil to hold us over.
We shared one of the pizzas (I forget the real name begins with an M) with spinach and cheese. It was SO good — better than expected. The flavor of the spinach was so rich and the cheese was great, too.
I got the beef kebab and it was lovely. The salad it came with had some kind of lemony dressing and other spices and was also very good.
The ambiance is nice and romantic as well. Great date place.

Our waiter was friendly and kind. We started off our meals with wine and mint tea. The mint tea smelled like toothpaste but tasted strong. It came with sugar and a fancy glass with a beautiful saucer. My sole decision after visiting two stores, one which was closed and the other which was ran out of food to cook, I had come to Levant. Now, this restaurant is a bit out of the way for me, since I am not near by the F train at Bergen Street.
However, I had the beef shish kebab… oh man it was heavenly. Juicy and flavored just right. I absolutely enjoyed the gooey bread. It was fun to pull apart and dip into the eggplant dish. I think that the hurricane menu that Levant had yesterday was amazing. I cannot wait to come back they have a full menu and Sandy is on her way out.

My girlfriend and I recently went to Levant for a nice dinner. Overall, the service was excellent, as the owner and her husband were the only FOH staff, and were very attentive and super nice. They recommended dishes based on my specific dietary needs, and were nice without being patronizing.
We started with some manakeesh — The chicken was pretty good, but the real star was the ground meat with almonds and spices. This dish was unreal. Period. It is probably the most balanced meat dish I’ve ever had, with hints of sumac, tomato, pepper, and god knows what else. The base of the manakeesh is basically a pita with possibly some olive oil and a little else, which I found to be excellent; it was warm and tender without being too oily like some Levantine and MENA foods.
The Phoenician Fries were very similar to thick cut diner fries — they were good with a spice blend that was simple but definitely complimented our potato friends. The fried onions on top were good, but I would have loved a sauce or vinegar based dip rather than onions on top. They were still great though and not too greasy.
For the main course I had meat kebobs. The flavor was good, but the texture was slightly tough — next time I will probably order lamb like they suggested.
All in all, it is an awesome place for couples/​groups, with excellent service and a down to earth menu. I would definitely go back!

By far my favorite restaurant in Brooklyn. Great tasty food, easy to find. Awesome outdoor seating Spring through fall.
A gem in the city, one of a kind!

The owners are really nice! They both do all that they can to accomodate your party. Their menu isn’t huge but there are some pretty interesting dishes on it.
First off, the complimentary bread they give you is piping hot and delish! SO SO SO SOFT!
Second, their garlic mayo is to die for. It legit tastes good with everything!
Definitely try it out!

I went here last night with 4 friends and the food was amazing, service was very friendly and prices were reasonable. Everything we ordered was delicious and fresh tasting. Jonesing for more mint tea and the hot bread with thyme sauce!
Read other reviews and its true the menu isn’t deep, but I’d rather places have less on the menu and that they make everything really well and have the ingredients be fresh. Also portions aren’t huge but prices are reasonable for what you get so I prefer this as well.

This is a great middle eastern (Lebanese?) restaurant with tasteful cooking, classy ambience, cute outdoor backyard seating, and very nice staff. They recently (as of Sept 2012) acquired liquor license.
Of the five appetizers we ordered, all tasted fresh and delicious. The Yalanji, the mousa’a, the hummus, the habbat, and baba ghanouj. I was impressed by the flavor and the texture of the Yalanji (stuffed vine leaf) as this is the best I’ve had in New York City. The Mousa’a — a mashed eggplant dish different from baba ghanouj — had nice dense texture and taste. The Habbat — cooked flava beans — has very nice flavor and soft texture. We drank Boscovi (red house wine) as recommended by the staff and it complimented the food extremely well.
The pita — what a treat. I thought of it as the New York’s famous thin crust pizza comparing to Chicago’s deep dish. They bake it fresh and serve it hot like a ballon. When you break it open you see the warm air rise from the bread. It takes one’s memory to a grandmother’s kitchen.
The Jordanian falafel — mix of chickpeas and flava beans — exceeded my expectation of any falafel, since I’m not a big fan of fried food. I’ve never enjoyed so much the nicely evenly grounded grainy texture of the mixed beans with spices fried to perfection: hot and soft on the inside and crunch outside. We ordered falafel platters which you can choose among Jordanian falafel, Egyptian falafel and yet another falafel. It comes with hummus, baba ghanouj and fresh salad. Our friend ordered Shish tawook which comes with salad and rice.
The dessert — a free compliment as we checked in on Unilocal — was mediocre. It was either banana and nutella on a thin bread or cinnamon and honey.

It’s all Pita. I haven’t been to Jordan and can’t tell «Khubz» (Pita) from «Shrak», but I can easily tell if you change the way you’re cooking the best thing you have. Who’s bright idea was that?
I’ve followed the arrival of Levant with interest. It replaced a restaurant that was the frequent haunt of an old Unilocal friend of mine. So, it surprised me one day to see a Unilocal talk thread on it that was clearly a shrill. It was followed by an event invite that described the soon to open restaurant as the only place in the city to serve «Manakeesh». Now, it’s possible that some of the hip folks in the neighborhood may have never made their way to Bay Ridge, within the same borough, but having spent time in the area I knew this was clearly not the case.
Still, I’m all for giving newcomers a chance, and so showed up one evening at Levant. I fell in love with their complimentary bread (Khubz), and liked the Batata Harra (spicy potato cubes with herbs and garlic) and the Musakhan (roasted chicken baked with red onions, pine nuts, and spices) and Kashkaval Manakeesh (described as a cross between Pizza and Pita). To be fair to Levant, their version is different from the Lebanese ones I had eaten in the city. But, the lasting memory I walked away with was of the friendly, young couple running the restaurant: while the wife is a gracious hostess, I was surprised by the effortless likeability of her husband. I really wanted them to succeed.
However, unsure of how a «fusion» restaurant would fare in the neighborhood, I visited again with a friend after a few days. While we both loved the bread and the accompanying dip, I found myself critical of a range of menu items. The soft drink, Jallab: rosewater, grape molasses, and date also had pine nuts, which added an unwelcome oiliness to the taste, not simply a solid texture. Also, the garlic mayo smothered on the Jordanian Rotisserie and Kafta Manakeesh overpowered the taste of all the spices. Finally, the Phoenician Fries were not only limp, but also lacked any seasoning. We asked for dessert, but they weren’t ready with the traditional Kunafa. However, not to disappoint us they offered us «some» dessert with berries that appeared suspiciously like something they themselves would have been consuming, but sacrificed for us! At one level, I was touched, but at another, turned off.
However, rather than critique them, I waited for a few more months till my next visit. This time, I was rudely surprised by the complimentary bread being thicker, and baked less. I let the owner know that it reminded me of «Roti», and that wasn’t a compliment. I appreciated the Kafta Manakeesh even less this time around, though the Soujuk (aged, spicy, beef sausage) was good in terms of taste and texture. It was late, but I thought they could be doing more business given the bargain basement pricing of the small dishes. Eventually, if the restaurant is to succeed it must deliver on food first. It appears to me the owners are concerned that hip eaters in the neighborhood wouldn’t appreciate Arab spices and flavors. That might well be the case, but Levant could still try to have their cake and eat it too by having two menus, ala Qi and the new Szechuan restaurants in Manhattan that don’t pull back on spice. They do so by having two sections on their menu: one for the less adventurous eaters looking for General Tso, and the other for those with taste buds. Levant, you can do better. This is my wake-​up call for you.

I lived on court street for 21 years right accross levant. Ive watched this place go from a video store where my mother used to rent «The Mask» when I was a child, to a tailor, than to Palmyra, and now, Levant. I guess what Im trying to express to my fellow Unilocalers, is that if there is any review you can trust regarding this place, it ME.
Im not a liar, or at least I try not to be. Truthfully, I doubted this place. Big time. Why? Because of small things like the tag is still on a hung decoration or the wall outside needs to be straightend out.
But me, being a person who loves to try anything, was more than amazed, astonished at the food that not only me, but my entire family ordered. You cannot say I dont know what I am talking about because not only am I an arab, but I too had an middle eastern type restaurant at one point. I ordered the arabic burger (extreamly flavorful). Family members had falafel, mixed plate, salads, and more. They were all sooooooooooooo so good. The lovely couple who run the show are also very awsome and sweet, and kind.
Though this place has some great great food (at least when i went there), if you are reading this review know that nobody is perfect. If there is any suggestions i can give levant, it would be:
Fix the front of the store (sign area, and where the rocks were), and take off the tags on the L-​brackets holding the shelves.
Good Luck!

This is a new place that just opened up on Court street, replacing Palmyra. After having another restaurant bail on us at the last second, my husband and I were searching frantically for a restaurant were we could host our rehearsal dinner for our wedding on memorial day weekend. The owners of Levant we extremely responsive and accommodating. After a delicious tasting and seeing the very reasonably priced quote, we decided to go with them. It was awesome. We shut the place down for the night, and feed dinners to roughly 45 people and hors d’oeuvres to another 100. Everyone raved about how good the food was, how nice the staff was, and how great the outdoor space was.
The food really is delicious; the pita is fresh and warm, though I am not usually a hummus lover I must admit that theirs is really to die for, as are their baba ghanouj, mousa’a and Lebneh with mint. The chicken and beef are also tender and juicy. The owners, Sera and Zed, are incredibly friendly and their love for the food they make is apparent. These two qualities truly make a wonderful eating experience. We will definitely be going back soon.

We just happened upon this place when looking for some food near Brooklyn Heights.
The owners both Jordanian) of this place are very attentive, friendly and informative. I love that they have their own personal recipes for many of the dishes. I had no idea there were so many different types of falafel (Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian). Very vegetarian friendly. The homemade pitas were warm, fluffy and light.
We sat inside because it was cooler, but there was a great patio outback that creates a nice atmosphere.
Definitely great for groups (We had 6 total) but there were also spaces for more intimate seating.

Dear Sara (owner at Levant Restaurant),
Thank you for responding. Unfortunately, your reply did not really address my concerns.
This is not the first time I have had Manakeesh whether in Brooklyn, Jordan, Syria or Palestine. Your portions are simply skimpy, period. Your Manakeesh is about half the size of Bedouin Tent’s on Atlantic Ave (@ $ 5.50) and Tut Café (@4.00) in Brooklyn Heights and to add insult to injury, your Manakeeshs are also MORE expensive. The portions at the other places I named above are by no means enormous, they are just the right size.
Any customer can see that this doesn’t add up in their favor.
Also, I have a major issue with ordering a particular salad (in this case Fatoosh Salad) and it doesn’t taste or look like it whatsoever. Would it really be so expensive to use authentic olive oil rather than some bland, terrible tasting substitute? And would it be so terrible to cut back on the onions that in no exaggeration made up half the salad?
Rather than spending time trying to convince me that black is white, etc, I would think it would be to your benefit to read AUTHENTIC customer reviews and listen to what their feedback is.
Whether, as you claim, this is Jordanian food, as opposed to Lebanese, Palestinian, or Syrian is not the point. A portion is a portion and a stomach is a stomach, whether American, Jordanian, etc. Also, I know for a fact that they use olive oil in Jordanian cuisine, you should try it. In fact they use it all throughout the «Levant» region!
Until then, I won’t be wasting my money when there are so many other amazing places in this area.

A big fan of Palmyra, the middle eastern place that used to inhabit the same space, I was excited to try Levant. Unfortunately, I left beyond disappointed.
The décor is strange, service was awkward, and food was nearly inedible.
Food-​wise, the only redeeming factor was the incredible fresh pita bread, which I would rate 5 stars on its own. The hummus was incredibly salty and otherwise bland; the manakeesh was not only unauthentic (I recently returned from a trip to the middle east where manakeesh was my favorite thing to eat) but the sauce and cheese were both pretty gross, for lack of a better word. The shellfish on our manakeesh looked unfresh and also not fully cooked. I used to love the Palmyra seafood pizza. This has gone seriously downhill from that. The chicken platter was the worst. Chicken was dry, rice was loaded with butter and otherwise completely lacking spice or flavor (tasted exactly like white Minute Rice). The salad was doused in a cringingly sweet raspberry dressing.
I’m shocked at the high scoring reviews on Unilocal.The only explanation as far as I can tell is that they are from friends and family who were invited to try the restaurant when it first opened.
Levant does not yet have a liquor license nor does it allow BYOB, so I am inclined to predict that it hasn’t officially opened and that this menu is a reflection of what the final menu/​food will be. I certainly hope as much.
They’ve already lost one local customer that used to be a ‘regular’ at Palmyra.

We had a lovely meal at Levant last night. We ordered three mezes to kick things off, each with its own unique flavor: eggplant, roasted pepper and yogurt and mint. The freshly made pita was endless, which is a good thing: we all agreed it was probably the best pita bread we’d ever had.
We moved on to two manakeesh, which are a bit like a pita-​based pizza minus the marinara. We had the Bourgeois and the Blue Moon, both amazing. Levant’s chefs are masters at mixing the savory with a hint of the sweet, creating surprising but pleasing tastes at every turn.
And because we were a typical American group feeling that no meal is complete without meat, we ordered a lamb dish. It was beautifully cooked and accompanied with vegetables and deliciously buttered rice.
We finished things off with a tray of strawberries and bananas accompanied by an Arabic concoction of sweet ingredients (all of which escape me at the moment) that added an interesting twist to the fruit.
We had a delicious meal in a lovely setting while being waited on by the smiling, warm proprietors. It was perfect. We’re looking forward to going back soon!

I had the pleasure of having dinner at Levant, a new Middle Eastern restaurant on the border of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, on the night of their soft opening. The owners, who hail from Jordan, breathe life into the small space with handsome stone tables, plush leather chairs, and fun trinkets on display. There’s also outdoor seating available in the back, and though we ended up sitting indoors, a peak out back revealed a cheery backyard with a fountain and gazebo-​covered seating.
Since I was there with a large group of friends we were able to try items from every category on the menu: Mezze, Manakeesh, Batata, and Grill. To put it simply, the food is fantastic. The spice-​rub on the chicken wings was addictive. The baba ghanouj was rich and smooth, and the labnehs were creamy and tangy and available in different blends; my favorite was the labneh shatah because it had a great spicy kick. I also tried muhammara (hot pepper dip) for the first time. If you love spicy foods like me the labneh shatah and muhammara are both must orders. There is such a huge variety of mezze dishes available that, paired with the endless baskets of piping-​hot pita bread, I could have easily made a meal out of mezze alone. But then I would have missed out on the Manakeesh, and the Manakeesh at Levant are not to be missed. Manakeesh, a flat bread topped with various ingredients (think Middle Eastern «pizza») is unique to Levantine cuisine. Levant has an interesting selection of Manakeesh ranging from savory to sweet, traditional to fusion. My favorite was the zeit wa zaatar, a traditional Manakeesh topped with a thyme/​herb mix and olive oil.
The mezze dishes and manakeesh are easy to split and eat tapas-​style with a large group, but if you prefer to order your own entrée the Grill section of the menu has you covered. The kabab and falafel platters come with a hefty portion of sides: salad, grilled veggies, baba ghanouj, and hummus. And if you like fries, you’re in for a treat with Levant’s Phoenician fries. I was already stuffed by the time the fries came out but couldn’t help having more than a few of the deliciously spiced fries.
With such a strong menu and enthusiastic owners who are clearly very proud of what they’ve created, I’d say Levant is off to a great start. They still have some kinks to iron out in terms of service and timing, but for the most part dinner ran smoothly and I can definitely see them improving with more time and experience.
*Juice and soda only until Levant gets their liquor license next month.
**Cash only for now.